Pakistan welcomes US-Afghan accord

ISLAMABAD - Advisor to Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz, welcoming the new security agreement between the US and new Afghan government, has said that Kabul would receive military and economic aid due to this agreement.

Talking to BBC, he said that Islamabad has always maintained the stance that it is an issue between the US and Afghanistan. He said according to experts, this agreement would help improve safety. The US and Nato forces would remain in Afghanistan for the training and assistance of Afghan forces, he added.

“In my opinion, it is very important that Afghanistan could get military and economic aid as a result of this agreement,” he remarked.

Responding to a question, he described the maiden speech of the newly-elected Afghan president very positive. The start is very good and mechanism of monitoring of borders could also be finalised, he added. He hoped that trust deficit between the two sides would also be narrowed down in due course.

To a question, Sartaj Aziz said, “Whenever anti-Islamabad elements cross over Afghanistan to launch attacks, Pakistan responds in retaliation and Kabul terms it an attack against it. We are not supposed to attack Afghanistan. However, we would respond to cross border firing”, he asserted.